1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed generally to an apparatus and method for recording progress notes and more particularly to such a system wherein words and phrases entered by a bar code wand are edited into complete grammatically correct English sentences to enable the instantaneous preparation of full text progress notes in no more time that it takes a practitioner to scan the selected applicable bar codes of an appropriate wall chart.
An increasing amount of time for any doctor or other health care practitioner is spent in the preparation of notes to document office visits and treatments. Handwritten notes are often unacceptable to insurance companies when processing claims; may be illegible to a typist transcribing the notes; and may not be consistent and uniform between different practitioners in the same office. To assure complete consistent printed notes while eliminating transcribing time, an improved system for recording progress notes has been developed.
The development of the art at the time of the invention is at least partially evidenced by an article by Gilbert R. Jost in the March, 1986 edition of Radiologic Clinics of North America, Volume 24, No. 1, pages 19-26. That article describes various computerized systems for facilitating the dictation and transcription of medical report and includes a brief description of the use of bar codes at page 23. Absent an automatic editing capability, however, such a system has limited utility. If the bar encoded entry data is drafted into substantially complete sentences, the flexibility of the data entry system suffers. If the data entry possibilities are increased in numbers to cover substantially every conceivable possibility, a library of entry data becomes so cumbersome as to be substantially inoperative. Finally, if the output reports are not set out in an easily readable and understandable format, they may be unacceptable by insurance companies or for permanent patient records so as to require further editing and revision by the practitioner.
Accordingly, a primary object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus and method for recording progress notes.
Another object is to provide such a system wherein bar coded input words and phrases are automatically edited into grammatically correct full sentences of a progress notes report.
Another object is to provide such a system which affords maximum flexibility of input information from a minimum number of data entry bar codes.
Another object is to provide such a system which accommodates customization of bar coded input data for adaptation to a particular practitioner or field of use.
Another object is to provide such a system which is readily installed in a practitioner's office without interference with existing computer systems.
Another object is to provide such a system which can be quickly and easily learned by a practitioner.
Another object is to provide such a system which eliminates the taking of tedious manual notes, together with the transcription thereof and the usual communications between the notes preparer and transcriber.
Finally, an object of the invention is to provide such a system which is cost efficient, easy to use and capable of automatically producing legible organized reports from a practitioner's original bar coded input data.